By common repute the papaw tree has the power of rendering tough meat tender.  Some say that it is but necessary to hang an old hen among the broad leaves to restore to it the youth and freshness of a chicken.  In some parts of South America papaw juice is rubbed over meat, and is said to change “apparent leather to tender and juicy steak.”  Other folks envelop the meat in the leaves and obtain a similar effect.  Science, to ascertain the verity or otherwise of the popular belief applied certain tests, the results of which demonstrated that all the favourable allegations were founded on truth and fact.  A commonplace experiment was tried.  A small piece of beef wrapped up in a papaw leaf during twenty-four hours, after a short boiling became perfectly tender; a similar piece wrapped in paper submitted to exactly similar conditions and processes remained hard.  Few facts are more firmly established than that the milky juice softens—­in other words hastens the decomposition of—­flesh.  Further, the fruit in some countries is cooked as a vegetable with meat, and in soups; it forms an ingredient in a popular sauce, and is preserved in a variety of ways as a sweetmeat.  Syrups and wines and cordials made from the ripe fruit are expectorant, sedative and tonic.  Ropes are made from the bark of the tree.  By its power of dissolving stains the papaw has acquired the name of the melon bleach; the leaves, and a portion of the fruit are steeped in water, and the treated water is used in washing coloured clothing, especially black, the colours being cleaned and held fast.

In the country in which it is supposed to be endemic it is believed that if male animals graze under the papaw tree they become Blase; but science alleges that the roots and extracted juice possess aphrodisiac properties, and who among us would not rather place credence upon this particular fairy tale of science than the fairy tales of swarthy and illiterate and possibly biassed gentlemen.

And as to its beauty-bestowing attributes, an admirer’s word might be quoted as a final note of praise—­

“The strange and beautiful races of the Antilles astonish the eyes of the traveller who sees them for the first time.  It has been said that they have taken their black, brown, and olive and yellow skin tints from the satiny and bright-hued rinds of the fruit which surround them.  If they are to be believed, the mystery of their clean, clear complexion and exquisite pulp-like flesh arises from the use of the papaw fruit as a cosmetic.  A slice of ripe fruit is rubbed over the skin, and is said to dissolve spare flesh and remove every blemish.  It is a toilet requisite in use by the young and old, producing the most beautiful specimens of the human race.”

THE CONQUERING TREE